


Young love

by neerapen



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Kid Fic, Lieutenant Duckling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-15
Updated: 2015-02-15
Packaged: 2018-03-13 01:12:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3362261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neerapen/pseuds/neerapen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Young Emma meets someone at the docks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Young love

**Author's Note:**

> CS Au set in EF, where there’s no Storybrooke, but there’s indeed a curse that separated Emma from her family when she was a child. Plus there’s no gap of 300 years between Emma and Killian.   
> Kid fic, as in they are both kids.
> 
> Prompt was _Buy you a rose -AJR_

Emma doesn’t know where he came from.

One minute she was alone, sitting on a bench in front of the docks and playing with a couple of shells, the next one he’s next to her, back straight and staring at the sea like he was petrified by Medusa.

She stares at the boy, then behind them, and she can see the Queen’s Guards running down the port’s road.

Well, that explains everything.

She turns to him, and a quick look at his clothes tells her everything: he’s an orphan, possibly alone. By the look on his face, he just became one.

"They are gone," she says.

He relaxes, tilting his head behind and whispering a  _thank you_  to the gods.

"Don’t worry," she offers him a smile. "It’ll get better."

He turns with a huff: “I doubt that.”

"Emma," she holds out her hand to him. "Orphan since I can remember."  _And it still hurts_ , she wants to add. “I’m a servant of the Swan’s family, they live in the fancy blue house on the east side?”

The boy turns to look in that direction and nods. “They are kind people, or so I’ve heard.”

She pulls back her hand: “They are. They gave me a place to stay.”

"I’m Killian," he says. "I was on a ship with my father, but the day after he was nowhere to be seen."

 _At least you met him before he disappeared,_  she wants to say.

Emma stands up and stretches her back, hands on her hips. When she turns to look at Killian, he’s concentrated on something in his hand.

"What’s that?" she asks, trying to peep at it.

He quickly closes his hand. “A thing.”

"A thing that you stole from the guards?"

He stands up at her provocation, hands closed in fists. “It’s mine! They wanted to steal it from me! Said it was…” he opens one hand and Emma can see a ring with a red gem on it. It looks too big in his hand. She is eleven, and she could never wear it without losing it. It’s probably the same for him, he doesn’t look much older than her.

"Was it your father’s?"

He nods, hiding it on a pocket of his jacket. "He always said it was his lucky charm. I found it in my hat when I woke up."

She looks around, but the guards are nowhere to be seen. Killian is safe, for now.

"Do you want to go to the market?" she asks, offering him a hand. "I can help you find a place. Mrs. Swan says I’m really good at finding stuff!"

Killian hesitates for a moment, then finally takes her hand. “And if you don’t?”

Emma makes a face at him: “ _Of course I will!_

He smiles.

She likes his smile.


End file.
